Duo Erick Manana – Jenny Fuhr

Madagascar – the common theme and source of inspiration for two musicians whose biographies could not have been more different.

The song-poet and guitar virtuoso Erick Manana grew up with the sounds of Madagascar’s Highland capital, Antananarivo. As a young man he came to France, where far from the Big Island, he always remained faithful to his dream: to preserve the musical heritage of his homeland, to further its contemporary development and make it known to a wide audience. Everywhere in Madagascar and the worldwide Malagasy diaspora he enjoys immense popularity. Firmly rooted in his own tradition, he unconventionally opens his music to suggestions and challenges from other musical genres and cultures without bias, as in his encounter with the German ethnomusicologist; the classically-trained violinist and flutist with experience in historical performance Jenny Fuhr has tracked down the specificities of Malagasy rhythms in her doctoral thesis at an English university, falling in love with the wonderful world of Malagasy speech and musical styles. As half of a duo with Erick Manana, she sings and plays parallel or contrapuntal voices and makes the nostalgia-tinged songs of the old metropolitan Tana shine. With her Renaissance flute, which she plays like an open reed flute, she adds strength and fire to the lively tunes of the rural South. Together the two award-winning musicians embarked on a musical adventure in which they explore and exploit the tension between familiarity and strangeness, between the Malagasy oral musical tradition, the "lova-tsofina," and the classic European style of play to build bridges leading to new and fresh musical horizons.